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12 'Tips and Tricks' for Job Developers to use in 2025
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Earlier in December, we ran 12 social media posts called the ’12 Tips of Job Development’, similar to the ’12 Days of Christmas’, but let’s be honest, we can all use a great job development tip, but giving you ten lords a leaping just feels awkward after a while. Do you need to tip them? Who knows?
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To give you a little more support as we go into 2025, we’ve gathered together all of the tips as I think there are strong suggestions here that will help you better prepare your clients for job search, build stronger relationships with employers, better understand your local labour market and achieve stronger employment outcomes.
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12 Tips of Job Development
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- Go through the 2021 Census Data for your town or city and identify the 10 industries that employ the most people in your community. Then, create a corresponding list of local employers that fit with each of these industries. This way your job development strategy will reflect the local economic make-up of your community.
- Encourage job seekers to apply for jobs that ran 3 months ago. On average, 1-in-5 new employees don’t last three months, quitting, getting fired or being promoted. By applying for a job after 3 months, your client or student might find a job opportunity before the employer has even thought to post it, therefore eliminating potential competition.
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Small business owners and managers often create their own social media, which often gets overlooked. Job developers should identify the 100 employers they most want to work with and follow all of their social media. When they 'like' and 'share' the content, they’ll be getting their name in front of local employers on a regular basis.
- Just because job development services come without a fee, it doesn’t mean they don’t have value. Students and job seekers pay for job development support with their commitment and activity. Have clients complete a contract before engaging in service stating what is expected of them in terms of their job search activities and what they can expect in return from you.
- Block off time in your calendar for connecting with employers by using repeating calendar appointments. This will leave you the time that is most likely to help create employment placements and ensure others won’t schedule your time for you.
- Each time you meet with a new employer, write down a list of jobs they currently employ people in, even if they don't have vacancies at the moment. By compiling a database of jobs, with an associated employer, sorted by NOC Code, when you have a client looking for a particular job, you can direct them to employers that employ people in their preferred job.
- Establish a Monday morning job club. This is an opportunity to help build routine and assist your clients or students in preparing for a week of effective job search. It can be online or in-person, but incorporate time to celebrate success, roleplay employer interactions, discuss best practices and set goals for the week. Make it super-positive but not longer than 90 minutes.
- Coach your clients or students to apply for posted jobs as quickly as possible. Some employers start interviewing candidates as soon as resumes start to come in. Also, what does it say about a candidate's work ethic if they apply for a position on the very last day, on the very last hour the job posting is open?
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When meeting employers for the first time, focus on 'discovery'. Rather than pitching your clients or financial supports, introduce yourself and ask questions about their organization and what makes them different, learning about their strengths and challenges. This way you can discuss how your clients and supports can address the employer’s challenges and support their strengths.
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Act like a talent agent when marketing your clients. Never say things like, 'I'm working with a recent immigrant' or 'young person, new to the job market' or 'someone with a slight disability'. It's natural to want employers to empathize with our clients but it's not how they make decisions on who to hire. We want to market our clients or students based on their strengths and the unique contribution they can make.
- Keep a scoreboard on your desk and update it daily. When you're scouting employment opportunities, you're competing with yourself so you should be able to see at a glance, how many employers you've contacted, job postings collected and employment outcomes, to see whether you are falling short, meeting or exceeding your goals. When you fall short of your goals, think about new strategies and when you exceed your goals -- Celebrate!
- Take time to give thanks to your best employers through emails, texts, social media and impromptu visits! Thank them for the clients they've hired in the past, their efforts to be an inclusive employer and their leadership in the community. If all we ever do is market clients and students, our work is 'transactional'. By taking time to appreciate our best employers, we're building relationship with them.
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I hope you find these 12 tips helpful in your job development and employer engagement activities. If you haven’t had a chance to take our workshop ‘Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Job Development’, we’ve uploaded an online version to www.jobdevelopment.org and up until the end of January, we’re offering everyone who takes it a 30% discount on registration.
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To all of the members of the Canadian Job Development Network, I just want to thank you for your support and participation this past year. I’ve always believed that job development requires a very special set of skills and I’m excited about the topics we can cover in the new year.
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In the next few days, I hope you have time to relax and enjoy time with those you love. Happy new year everyone!
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I'll be traveling this morning when we would normally be do the #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday Dec. 30th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland, but I've recorded my presentation and you can 'Click this Link' to view the session on YouTube.
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